Combination electric lantern and spotlight



Oct. '28. 1924. 1,513,489

W. H. CALHOUN COMBINATION ELECTRIC LANTERN AND SPOTLIGHT Original File y 1922 1 ,0 @gz ((9)v Q H I11 7 W H. HHH 1 mm l a2 I n 4 4 I 22 2 a W T 26 2% H1 W 2% M ilh 7/ @961 Jz z Eda/2202" Patented @ct. 28, 1924.

unrrao 5mm 'isnaea rarest eerie WILLIAM H. CALHOUN, 0F NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR T0 FRENCH BATTERY & CARBON COMPANY, OF MIADISON, "WISCONSIN, A CORPORATION OF WISCONSIN.

comzernarlon ELECTRIC trimaran Ann srormGH-r.

Application filed May 5, 1922, Serial No. 558,715. Renewed September 27, 1924. i

To aZZ whom it may concern.

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM H. GAL- HOUN, a citizen of the United States, residthe rays from the lamp in a substantially parallel beam, striking a single point or object at a substantial distancesometimes a couple of hundred feet away from the operator.

Electric lanterns for railroad and other use include a battery case supported on standards adapted to rest upon the floor or ground,'there being interposed in the space below the battery a fully exposed electric light bulb energized by the battery and adapted to radiate light beams both downward and in all directions about the lantern :a light distribution which is essential in the conditions of work for which a lantern is required. As used in the prior art,

these lanterns are incapable of throwing a beam of light to any substantial distance, as would at times be desirable in many lines of work where a lantern of this type might be useful.

The object of this invention is to provide a lantern of this type with a parabolic re flector which may be selectively placed, so that either the light rays from the electric light bulb are concentrated in a beam in one single direction, thereby rendering the lantern useful as a flash-light proper, or the light rays are allowed to scatter, as with the ordinary lantern, thereby leaving the ordinary lantern functions undisturbed.

The invention consists in means for attaining the foregoing objects, which can be easily and cheaply constructed, which is satisfactory in use and in not readily liable to get out of order. More particularly, the invention consists in many features and details which will be hereafter more fully set forth in the specification and claims.

Referring to the drawings in which like numbers designate the same parts throughout the several views:

which the light beams from the lamp can radiate freel v Figure 2 is a somewhat enlarged vertical section of the device of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a changed position view of the essential parts of Figure 2, showing the reflector in flashlight position, viz: that in which the rays from the electric lamp are directed by the reflector into a beam extending in a single direction.

Figure 1 shows an ordinary lantern case 10, supported by angularly disposed legs 12 from a conventionally open presumably circular ring 14 resting on the floor and holding the lower ends of these legs rigidlyin the position predetermined by the designer of the lantern. At the top of thecase 10 is a conventional handle-16, adapted to be the lamp device 2t-to illuminate the filament 2% thereof. i I

The parts thus far described are purely conventional construction and maybe varied within wide limits without in any way departing from the invention.

In applying this invention to the conventional mechanism just described, a parabolic reflector 32 is produced, the same being of suitable size so that when placed in the position of Figure 2, it willin nowise interfere with the normal operation of the lamp 24 in connection with the electric lantern" of Figure 1, and that when placed in the position shown in Figure 3, beams of light which emanate from the filament 24* of the electric lamp 24: will all be turned downward by the inside surface of the reflector,

exactly as would be the case were the reflector and lamp mounted in an ordinary flashlightthis with the result that when the operator wants to use the device of Figure 3 for flash-light purposes, all he has to do is to turn the lantern device in such a direction that the central axis of the lamp and the reflector 32 will point through the ring 14 to the single object which he wishes to illuminate.

Many different ways are conceivable for detachably securing the reflector 32 so that it is selectively mountable with reference to the lamp and the rest of the lantern in the two positions shown in Figures and 3, the particular mechanism which happens to used for the purpose in the drawings is merely to (wide the case portion 30 which surrounds the terminal parts or the lamp 2% with an externally screw threaded cylindrical portion 34 with which the internal screw threads 36 in a central perforation in the reflector 32 are adapted to interfit in conventional and obvious manner as fully illustrated in the drawings.

The particular screw thread attachment- 34-36 tor the reflector has an additional advantage of its own of providing a simple slow motion mechanism by which the reflector may be moved as carefully as desired axially of the lamp 24 to thereby, while the reflector is still in the position of Figure 3 as regards the lantern, focus the reflector with reference to the lamp so that rays of light from the lamp 24: will strike the re fiector in the proper manner to be directed as a parallel beam through the ring 14.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a mechanism of the class described, an electric lantern mechanism with an electric light bulb protruding therefrom, adapted to receive current from the lantern proper, screw threads on part of the lantern from which the electric lamp projects, concentric with the axis of the lamp, and a parabolic reflector having a central screw threaded perforation therein adapted to engage said screw threads on the lantern, the whole being arranged so that the reflector may be reversibly placed on said screw threads to in one position act on ys of light from said lau'ip to direct them into a beam, and in the other leave the rays from the lamp entirely unobstructed.

2. in an electric lantern, the combination of a casing having an electric light bulb protruding therefrom adapted to receive current from an electric cell arranged within the casing, and a dished reflector having means for cooperation with portion of the casing to reversibly attach the reflector to the casing, whereby said reflector acts in one position to concentrate'light rays from the bulb into a l' 1am and in a reversed. position to permit di'iiusion of said lightra 3. An electric lantern including a casing having an electric light bulb protruding axially therefrom adapted to receive current from an electric cell arranged within the casing, and a dished reflector having means cont-rally thereof for cooperation with a PO)- tion of the casing to reversibly attach the reflector to the casing axially thereof, whereby said reflector acts in one position to concentrate light rays from the bulb into a beam and in a reversed position to permit diffusion of said light rays.

4. An electric lantern including a casing having an extension thereon, an electric light bulb protruding from said extension adapted to receive current from an electric cell arranged within the casing, and a dished reflector having means for cooperation with a portion of said extension to reversibly attach the reflector to said extension, whereby said reflector acts in one position to concentrate light rays from the bulb into a beam and in a reversed position to permit diffusion of said light rays the extension on said casing tapering towards said bulb whereby it is received within the dished portion of the reflector in one of the aforesaid positions or the latter.

In witness whereof, l have hereunto subscribed my name.

WILLIAM H. CALHOUN. 

